


Clouds and Snow

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 17:51:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Mica receives a special visitor at Zenith Base Camp.





	Clouds and Snow

A smile spread across Mica's face as she stepped out of her tent that she'd somehow managed to set up atop the more solid clouds that made up her base camp in the clouds. Not many people in her community could say that they slept among the rainbows and had a rainbow greeting them every morning. The air up here was so fresh, too, not thin like some people would expect, being so high up. It was just perfect, almost like this place was made to sustain human life. She needed to do more looking into that.

This morning, though, something stopped her. Something new. Something that was slowly appearing through the clouds, coming up through the cloud floor. Mica gaped, rubbing her eyes (which she knew had very obvious tan lines where her goggles went), but the vision remained.

"Uncle Nic?" Mica called once the entirety of the hot air balloon finally became visible. The large, swarthy man within grinned at her, though he looked a little strange bundled up in so many layers up here. He wasn't dressed for the wind, that was for sure, he was dressed more for a cold climate. One with plentiful snow and thick fog and a coldness that was unearthly.

"Ho, there, fellow adventurer!" Nic greeted her, waving. He tossed down some sandbags, which sunk into the cloudstuff a little but remained where they were, and then climbed out himself. Mica noticed that he still had hold of the fridge, which floated strangely on the other end of a short, broken chain. It floated just above the cloudstuff, glowing with an energy that made Mica's arm hairs stand on end.

"Uncle Nic! What are you doing here?" asked Mica, grinning as she walked across the cloudstuff to meet him. Pico hopped along beside her, his tongue darting out as if to taste the air. Mica knew that it wasn't actually what he was doing, though, that was what snakes did. And Pico, for all of his bravery and desire to be something more, was just her loyal froggy companion. Also, Mica knew from experience that he was only trying to lick her uncle, because that was a totally normal thing that all frogs did.

"Well, I was in the area and thought that I'd visit my favourite niece," said Nic, acting nonchalant. Mica laughed, holding her arms out for a hug. Nic's embrace was so tight that it almost took her breath away, but in a good way.

"Wow, have you been working out in Dino or what?" asked Mica when she staggered away. "You almost crushed my bones!" Nic chuckled.

"Well, perhaps I have been going on more expeditions as of late," said Nic. "It helps that I have a partner to go on those explorations with, of course."

"Ooh," Mica teased. "You'll have to tell me more about these explorations with your girlfriend." She waggled her eyebrows, to which Nic coughed and rubbed the back of his neck, blushing.

"Yes, well," said Nic. "You've met her yourself, so you know what she's like."

"I believe that I'm the one who encouraged the two of you to get together," said Mica, keeping her tone airy. "But come, let us discuss around the... cooler where I keep all of my things." Nic laughed at her less-than-dramatic wording.

"Do the clouds not sustain fire?" asked Nic.

"Well, on the plus side, I can't burn this place down," said Mica. "But no, I can't seem to light a fire up here. Every time I try, it rains."

"Well, considering the fact that clouds are made of water," said Nic. Mica shrugged.

"Anyway, I at least have food," said Mica, walking over to the cooler where she'd set up some lightweight logs as seats. She always felt a little nervous about sitting down on them, but they hadn't fallen through yet. Well, at least, they hadn't fallen through with her on them.

"It will be nice to be able to eat something and not have to worry about it freezing before it hits my lips," said Nic as he sat down opposite her. Mica opened the cooler, bringing out two cans of soda and some sandwiches. She handed one of each to her uncle, who took them gratefully.

"Darn, now I feel a little bad about only having cold drinks and sandwiches," said Mica. "But hey, like I said, no fire."

"It's fine," said Nic. "As long as it's not frozen." They both shared a laugh at that.

"So, any fun adventures?" asked Mica. "I know you were talking about the Ashen Steep, have you unblocked that yet?"

"Sadly, no," said Nic. "We have found some more interesting artifacts, Carina and I, but sadly, that valley is as difficult to explore as it has always been. It's almost like it doesn't want to be explored."

"Well, at least there aren't little wind spirits or whatever they are taking your stuff," said Mica. "Would you believe that they stole all of my explorer's gear this time?" She sounded incredulous, but Nic only nodded, interested.

"Did you manage to get it all back?" asked Nic.

"Oh, yeah," said Mica. "I had a little help, though, of course. From a friend." She knew that, despite her tanned skin, her blush showed, because Nic grinned a very cheeky grin.

"Oh, a friend, huh?" said Nic. "What's their name?"

"Uncle Nic," Mica protested, blushing.

"That's a strange name," said Nic. Mica laughed, waving her hand to brush him off.

"Her name's Zoe," said Mica. "She came up here before, and I was able to meet with her again at Midsummer. She's a very nice girl."

"Hmm, I'll have to inspect her for myself, see if she's up to my niece's standards," said Nic. Mica laughed.

"You're my uncle, not my dad!" said Mica.

"Just keeping an eye on you," said Nic. "Not that I'm very responsible, according to the rest of our family, but oh well. Have you told her how you feel yet?"

"No," said Mica, her eyes wide. "We've barely just met and I bet that she doesn't feel the same way."

"Hmm, I seem to recall another person who wasn't convinced that their crush liked them," said Nic. "And in the end, it turned out that she did like me very much, the same way that I liked her. I wonder who that was?"

"Alright, I get it," said Mica, smiling as she rolled her eyes. "And I guess we did have fun hanging out at Midsummer. Even though her mother was there, but she's a cool mum."

"Good," said Nic. "So you've made a good impression on her family, then?"

"Yes, but it'd never work," said Mica. "Even if she did like me, I go where the clouds take me. I'm an adventurer at heart, just like you. How can I take someone along on that? I'll be taking her away from her home, away from her family, for who knows how long, and it could get dangerous. What if those little wind spirit things take her?"

"I think that you're worrying too much," said Nic. "I'm an adventurer too, and yet I have a wonderful girlfriend who makes me very happy and goes on many adventures with me."

"Yeah, but you're mostly in the one place," said Mica. "At least for now. And you have no intentions on leaving Jorvik, right?"

"No," said Nic. "Not for the forseeable future, at least."

"Exactly, but my adventures are up in the clouds, where I can be for days or even longer at a time. How can I take her away from her home like that?" said Mica.

"Well, perhaps you could at least communicate with her via letters or email or texts," said Nic. "Personally, I use letters, mostly because the cellphone reception in Dino is non-existent."

"But it's so hard to keep that up," said Mica. "Especially when I'm up in the air. What, do I check in at wi-fi hotspots or whenever I drift into an area with mobile phone reception?"

"If that's what it takes," said Nic, nodding.

"It'll be hard," said Mica. "And it'll take a lot of commitment." It angered her slightly, how scared she was about this. She was a Stoneground, nothing scared her. Except this, apparently. Nic leaned across and took her hands.

"The adventure of love is a scary one," said Nic. "But it may well be worth taking. Just at least think about it." He smiled warmly at her, and Mica gave him that same warm smile back.

"I'll do that," said Mica. "In my downtime. Thanks, Uncle Nic."

"Just returning the favour," said Nic. "Now, how about you show me these rainbow roads?"

"Gladly," said Mica, rising from her seat and dusting the sandwich crumbs from her clothing. Pico helped to clean up too, every single crumb disappearing down his throat. "Just watch your step- it can get slippery at times, and some clouds are bouncy and might fling you into the air."

"I'm sure that you can guide me around the worst of the pitfalls," said Nic, his eyes glittering warmly. Mica grinned, feeling the rush of joy as she guided her uncle around this place that she'd come to very much enjoy. Maybe someday, she'd be able to enjoy this explorer's life with another person. But for now, Pico was as much of a companion as she was comfortable with. Love was tricky, after all, no matter how good it could be.


End file.
